Theatre Time Preps New Production

Amateur detectives, get ready for a show right up your alley. A new mystery play is starting up in Bayside at the end of the month.

Theatre Time Productions is putting together a staging of “The Gemini Killer,” a thriller written and directed by Tom Williams. This show will be the play’s first staging. As a result, it is aiming to be a true whodunit where no one in the audience will know the answers until the end.

Theatre Time Productions will stage “The Gemini Killer,” written and directed by Tom Williams (above), in Bayside.

According to Williams, “The Gemini Killer” is about a famous novelist who invites four strangers to his home. Each of those people have lost someone close due to the Gemini Killer. The novelist announces to his guests that he is the killer and, to make amends, he will give one million dollars to the four. Soon after, he is found murdered and the question of who killed him begins.

“I’ve always loved different stories done on stage. This is the same vein. I decided to [use a serial killer] because it’s very in-vogue these days in popular culture,” Williams said. “Let me see if I can fool the audience.”
The cast includes Al Carbuto, Frank Freeman, Sue Haehnel and Kevin Vincent, who is also a co-founder of the theater group.

Although Williams has been friends with Theatre Time’s founders, Kevin and Judy Vincent, this is the first time he has written a play produced by them. In the past, he has directed several Theatre Time productions written by other people. Being the director and writer for this project gives Williams a perspective that lets him help his actors get into character.

“When the actors are asking me stuff about the characters, they’re asking the person who wrote the characters,” he said. “They’re getting it straight from the horse’s mouth. It’s amazing to have something you worked on from start to finish get on stage and be done.”

Williams’ work fit with what Judy and Kevin wanted to do for their upcoming production, which was to produce a fresh story.

“We were looking to do an ‘original’ play as we wanted to give an unpublished playwright an opportunity to have their work produced and seen by the public,” Kevin said. “As soon as we read ‘The Gemini Killer,’ we knew it was ‘the one.’”

“The Gemini Killer” will be staged on March 29 and 30 as well as April 4, 5 and 6. The shows on Friday and Saturday start at 8 p.m. and the Sunday shows begin at 3 p.m. Tickets are $16 for adults and $14 for seniors and children. The performances will take place at the Colonial Church of Bayside, located at 54-02 217th St. Call (347) 358-8102 for tickets or order them online at www.theatretime.org.

“We hope audiences will have fun, above all. That’s what it’s all about,” Kevin said. “And the great thing about this particular play is that no one knows how it ends!”